Take the shower of your dreams

Tracy Paulsen

Take the shower of your dreams

You must admit, there’s nothing like a nice, hot shower at the end of a very long day. Standing under steamy water, you can almost feel the stress melt away.

It doesn’t take much to kill the shower vibe. Weak water flow, a backing-up drain or moldy tiles can all make that end-of-day routine less pleasurable. We’ve gathered some tips to ensure that when you step behind that curtain (or behind the tempered glass) all will be well in shower-land.

Wimpy water flow?

It’s easy to chalk up a wimpy water flow to low water pressure, but before you do, check your showerhead. Especially if you have hard water, mineral deposits may be the culprit. These can build up, clogging the water-flow holes.

How you clean the showerhead depends on the type you have. Newer models typically screw on to the shower arm so they’re easy to remove. Once it’s off the shower, soak it in vinegar or, for truly tough deposits, use a commercial product, such as CLR.

After soaking for about 60 minutes, used gloved hands and an old toothbrush or small scrub brush to remove the deposits. After replacing the showerhead, run water through it to remove all cleaning solution residue.

If you can’t remove the shower head, or choose not to, grab a rubber band, a plastic bag and your cleaning solution.

Place the rubber band over the showerhead arm. Fill the plastic bag with your solution and slip it over the showerhead. Use the rubber band to secure the top of the bag to the showerhead arm and allow the contraption to remain for at least 60 minutes.

Remove the bag and run the shower to flush out the solution and the loosened mineral deposits.

Backed up drains

Just like our four-legged friends, we humans shed and a lot of the hair we lose ends up in the shower, when we wash our hair.

From there, it travels down the drain where, eventually, it’ll meet up with a big, ugly wad of hair and join it. So, not only does hair back up the water into the tub while you’re showering, it will eventually cause a more expensive backup if you don’t take care of it.

The easiest and least expensive “gadget” you can purchase to avoid hair clogs in the shower is a strainer that fits over the drain opening.

If you already have a clog, avoid using those chemical solutions you can buy at the supermarket or hardware store. Sure, they’re handy when you’re certain that the clog is a wad of hair, but, what if it’s a toy the kid threw down the drain?

In that case, the solution won’t clear the clog and, worse, it’ll back up onto your feet during your next shower.

“To protect yourself and your pipes, always try to dislodge a clog using common household methods before reaching for the drain cleaner,” say the experts at HIS Plumber in Newnan, GA.

Better yet, call a plumber if you are unsure of what’s causing the water to back up into the tub.

A clean shower is a dreamy shower

Mold on tile, soap scum and a ring around the shower – talk about a buzz kill! To make your shower truly Zen, get rid of the grime and keep it away.

Let’s take a look at some proven home remedies to get rid of the grime.

Mold

Combine household bleach and water (50/50) in a spray bottle. Open the bathroom window, don a breathing mask and gloves and spray the solution directly onto the mold. Allow it to sit for a few minutes and then use an old toothbrush to scrub it off the grout.

Use a clean, wet sponge to wipe away the residue.

Prevent mold buildup by using the fan in the bathroom while showering and allow it to run for about half an hour afterward.

Soap scum

We once met a cleaning lady who swore by the use of Tide laundry detergent (powdered) to clean soap scum from tubs and shower surrounds. It’s less abrasive than cleanser and, at least from what we witnessed, did a far better job.

Ensure that you rinse it completely, however, because it can make the surface quite slippery.

Sure, the aforementioned steps are time-consuming, but just imagine how amazingly soothing the after-shower will be.

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